2009 NSRA Street Rod Nationals - The Nats

Now that I think about it, one of my all- time favorite events (the huge NSRA Street Rod Nationals) has never been a real big player in the classic truck world-even though it draws anywhere between 8,000 and 12,000 entries each year (for those who've never attended, it's huge-imagine over 300 vendors spread throughout 500,000 square feet of indoor exhibit area on top of the aforementioned cool cars and trucks on display), I'm guessing that's mainly because the association's strict pre-1949 year cutoff pretty much disqualified a large portion of the truck contingent. Sure, there has always been a pretty darn good turnout of street rod pickups ('27 to '40s), F-1's and of course '47 and '48 Chevys but, in all honesty, it's been mainly the domain of street rods for the 40 or so years it's been held.

1/17The 2009 NSRA Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, drew nearly 11,000 participants last August, and with the new 1980 cutoff for 2010 we can hopefully add a few thousand more classic trucks this year! You can learn more about the Nats by checking out the NSRA Website at www.nsra-usa.com.

Well, starting this year (2010) the NSRA has opened up the year break for the Nats up to and including 1980! Finally classic truckers and their pride and joys will have the opportunity to be a part of one of the biggest and most fun events in the hobby, and I'm hoping that the Nats will become a premier classic truck destination in the future. That said, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the pickups that were there this past season (heck, I may even show ya a few cool street rods as well) to give ya an idea of what's in store for those who add the NSRA Nationals to their event calendar this year. I've been going to the Nats for years (my first was Tulsa back in 1976), and will continue attending for as long as it's held-especially now that I'll have the opportunity to see and shoot features on the classic trucks I love so much. So take a look at a fraction of the pickups I ran across this past season, and then please consider making the Nats one of the events you choose to attend this year. Believe me, if you've never been it'll be an experience-show up once and you'll be hooked!